New Richmond has been beckoning me for the past few days since an Iceland Gull was spotted on Saturday. With a minor alteration in my schedule, I left work a little early and made a bee-line to New Richmond.
With work keeping me steppin’ an fetchin’ for most of the day, it was difficult to get the adrenalin flowing for this bird chase. I arrived at Skipper’s Marina a little before 3 pm and started scopes the area around the dock. With the wind being so gusty there was nothing in the air nor any gulls on the dock or in the water. After several minutes scanning the river, I noticed a small raft of gulls down stream from where I was standing. Driving down to where Steamboat Marina, sitting about halfway out into the Ohio River was the Iceland Gull, with about 15 Ring-billed Gulls. Even though I was planning on taking a picture of the raft of birds, they decided differently, and flew off down stream. Alot of driving for one bird, but it was worth it.
The picture below is of the Iceland Gull seen on the Ohio River, however it was taken by Laura Keene just a few days ago.
A Birder's Notebook 